Mass Defect
by KellyShepard087
Summary: An AU story of a trio of marines aboard the Normandy amidst the ending months of the war. Based off a role play game played by me and my friends. All OCs with mention of canon characters.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**Hey guys, got something new here. It's a AAU. Author's Alternate Universe. This is something close to my heart that I want to share. It started out as comments on a Facebook post and turned into a great role play with two great people that became two amazing friends.

So here I am, rewriting it for here to share with you guys.

Enjoy! Read and Review please!

* * *

An Alliance shuttle settles low over the landscape of Palaven's war torn moon, Menae. The side door slides open revealing four marines and one massive Krogan. Two of the marines are sat, heads together with their omnitools lit up. The third appears to be asleep, a sniper rifle collapsed and leaning beside her. The fourth is instantly recognizable as the esteemed Commander Shepard, she looks determined and less than pleased.

The two marines break apart, omnitools shutting off as one of them, a red head, turns to the commander and appears to attempt to appeal to her. Shepard's face goes grim, a small smirk tugging her lip despite her best efforts, she waves her arm out the door as the shuttle settles low. A clear order to disembark. The second marine stands up, unshipping a shotgun, she gives a condescending look and sharp remark to the other before she drops out of the shuttle. Taking a knee she sweeps the immediate area and waves the second marine down.

Casually saluting the commander the red head drops from the shuttle, taking a knee she throws down a hover turret and draws up a omni combat drone using her tool.

She nods at the shorter marine. "All clear." she says, the beginnings of a crooked smile tugging at the corner of her mouth. "Boss lady says we gotta cool our heels and do something useful. So, let's go find adventure."

"You are insane." her comrade replies as she lowers her shotgun turning back to face her. "We're in this mess because of you."

"Hey, I didn't ask you to help me get the whiskey, ya did that on your own. And the door wasn't my fault!"

"The chocolate was your idea, Teri."

"True that, Lexi." Teri muses as she idly sends her drone around the perimeter to scout. "You did drag me with you to raid the nest. So technically blamed leads back to you first."

"The both of you are equally in trouble." Shepard hollers from the ship, getting the attention of the squabbling marines. "Now get your asses on the move before I decide to leave you here for good." The marines salute the commander before giving each other equally startled looks.

Teri snaps her fingers, waving her left arm, omnitool lit up, summoning her drone to her, and taking point. "Hard ass, ain't she?" she says cheekily as they turn from the shuttle, walking away towards the closest ridge and the lights of a nearby base.

"All over some chocolates, whiskey, and a door..-" whatever Lexi was to say next is drowned out and cut off by the sight ahead as they crest the ridge.

A veritable horde of husks spread out ahead of them, a few marauders commanding over the cannibals. They all turn their attention on the pair.

"Oh shit..." Teri says softly.

"Oh hell yeah." Lexi exclaims as she draws her smg, passing her shotgun off to Teri. "Duty calls! Don't get killed!" She runs headlong towards the fray.

"Where the hell do you think you're going?" Teri hollers out, quickly clipping the shotgun to her pack as she draws her valkyrie assault rifle. "Why can't it ever go smooth?" she grumbles, "Fucking a and pox rot them all." she runs after Lexi, rifle at the ready signalling her drone to keep up and keep the husks off of her.

"Told ya duty calls." Lexi shouts back with a wave.

"Without your shotgun? Are you insane?" Teri rushes through the husks, unloading her rifle into the face of one that get's too close. "Get back here. Slow down!"

"Insane? Probably." Lexi unships and waves an SMG, "Still got this, I can run faster without that shotgun weighing me down!" she lets out a chuckling laugh and activates her cloak, vanishing from view.

"Embracing the speedy now? You need to work on your leg muscles if a measly shotgun slows you down." Teri catches up to where Lexi vanished speaking as she reappears. "See? I'm barely breaking a sweat. And I told ya not to use the cloak yet. It's still recalibrating."

Lexi moans "Now you tell me." turning around abruptly at a sound of a growl she grabs her shotgun from Teri, firing in one smooth motion, it knocks back and kills a cannibal that got too friendly.

"Nice shot." Teri says turning and unloading her rifle into a fray of husks and cannibals. "we're too vulnerable here. Head towards the base. We need those walls at our backs."

Lexi laughs in an almost maniacal manner as her shotgun separates the head of a marauder from his body. back pedaling towards the base the two show off an impressive array of skills and precision with their weapons. They make it back to the walls of the base.

Putting their backs against it, Teri hollers out to whoever might be inside. "We're friendlies! Open the gate!"

A voice answers her, a Turian sticking his head over the rampart of the wall to look down at them. "Not with that mess out there. You're on your own." He ducks back out of sight. Leaving them alone.

"You have got to be kidding me." Teri growls as she kneels down by the gate's locking mechanism.

"What are you doing?" Lexi says, her exasperation plain in her voice.

"Getting us inside. Hold them off."

"You're gonna leave me alone to defend us from that hoard?"

"Oh quit your moaning. Here I have some rocket turrets and there's Riley to help." She lays down and sets up a combat turret, setting it to keep a look out, then summons her drone back to keep an eye on their far side.

"You named your drone Riley?"

"Is there a problem with that?"

"No, just never heard of someone naming a combat drone."

"I've never heard of a shotgun infiltrator." Teri grins her crooked smile.

Lexi grins in return, "Touche." One of the turret rockets picks this moment to fire over Lexi's head at a husk that was about to jump on her back.

"Whoa! Hey!" She exlaims, ducking fast, "I'm on your side ya bloody turret!"

"Sorry, sometimes it doesn't distinguish friend from foe at such short range. And it can't hear you. It' s an inanimate object."

"I know that." Lexi huffs impatiently. "Aren't you supposed to be working on a door?"

"Wow, impatient much?" It's a rhetorical question, so Teri doesn't wait for an answer. Putting her hacking skills to use, she turns back to work on the the door with her omnitool, she doesn't here Lexi muttering about reasons to be impatient.

She can hear the pitched battle sounds behind her as the horde comes closer.

Lexi's shotgun is going off with deadly precision, nearly deafening Teri beside her. "I need clips!" She cries out, her shotgun hissing and emitting overheated smoke.

Teri draws spare clips from her leg pouch and passes them up to Lexi without even looking. "Almost got it.."

"Almost isn't good enough." Her shotgun rings out again, blasting sound into Teri's ear.

"Almost there..." Teri repeats, bitting her tongue softly between her teeth, concentrating on spinning the last unlocking sequence into place.

"C'mon Teri! Faster."

"Quit trying to rush me." Teri grimaces at another blast, dropping the last sequence in. "Got it!" She spins around, drawing her rifle as she does so. Seeing the horde for the first time she realizes how close she was cutting it.

She fires into it, mowing down husks and cannibals as she hollers at Lexi. "Go, go!"

Lexi turns and dives through the opening, rolling and coming to a knee at the doors edge, providing covering fire. Teri abandons her drone and turret, using an overload command to blast them both. The resulting explosions deal out massive damage to the reapers around the areas. She turns and runs through the door, quickly inputting the command to shut it tight.

They both of them laugh in relief as they slap each others' shoulders, catching a breather.

"You are one impressive SoB with that shotgun." Teri says, giving Lexi a soft punch to the shoulder.

"I'm the SoB?" Lexi rubs at her shoulder, her grin belaying the irritation in her voice. "Who's the one that was lollygagging to open the door?!"

"Was a tricksy bit of stubborn. I got it, didn't I?" Teri laughs once more before checking over her gear and their surroundings. Any turians in the area seem to have vacated. She shrugs, works for her. She doesn't feel like dealing with them.

"Ok, it's 20:00 hours, and we've got a long night ahead." Teri says, looking for a good place to kip. "Who gets first watch? And have you seen Kari? Last I saw she was fast asleep in the shuttle."

Lexi looks around and seems to realize herself, "Come to think of it, no, I haven't either. Maybe she got lucky and Shepard forgot about her."

"The two of us certainly kept her attention." Teri stretches and ships her rifle. "Here looks about as good as anywhere to kip for the night. You want first watch?"

Lexi steps up on top of the wall and looks over. "Still got company. I can handle any brave souls that try to get in. You get some rest first."

"Sounds good to me." Teri sits back against the wall legs stretched out and hand resting on her pistol at her side as she slowly drifts off.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note:** Here we are, for those who might be following, chapter two, a bit more action in this chapter. Fun times.

Enjoy!

R&R please!

* * *

Shepard, having seen the hordes the two were headed into, had decided to drop Kari off at a high location among a rock formation that overlooked the low lands in front of the base. Allowing Kari out she instructs her that she'll send the shuttle back tomorrow and to enjoy their time.

Kari finds a level ledge and lowers herself to a prone position, drawing her black widow up she expands it out, checking over each connection and mechanism expertly before setting it up and looking through the scope.

She lines up her shots. Taking out the bigger targets as the other two are fighting off husks. Kari chuckles to herself, reading their body language as they appear to have good camaraderie with each other.

When Teri starts to work on the door Kari pays more attention to the marauders and some of the cannibals, leaving the husks and the rest for Teri's drone and turret, and for Lexi and her deadly shotgun accuracy. She's never seen anyone before use a shotgun so expertly.

Swearing suddenly she rolls to the side as a stray rocket from the turret misses it's target, careening in her direction. She rolls over as the rocket explodes on the cliff face behind her, showering small rock debris over her. She curses silently over Teri and her rockets, then settles back into her original position as the other two close the gates and get ready for the night.

Kari prepares herself for a long night of keeping watch over her Squadmates.

••••

The two women swap watch every third hour, passing a relatively uneventful night. Not much beyond the stray husk threatening the perimeter.

Teri wakes to the sounds of battle. Opening her eyes she quickly twists around, standing and grabbing her rifle in one smooth motion. When she stands and looks she sees Lexi finishing of a small group of husks.

"They never learn do they?" Teri says as she ships her rifle, stretching her arms up and back.

"They are rather mindless." Lexi responds cheekily, "It's kinda in their name 'mindless husks'." She has to duck as Teri throws a spare ammo clip pack towards her head. "Hey!"

"It's too early for your cheek." She grumbles by means of apology.

"Wow, morning grouch. Useful to know." Lexi turns and picks up the ammo pack, strapping it to her belt.

"I'll give you a morning grouch." Teri finishes stretching, grinning a wolf's grin to Lexi.

"I'll pass thanks." She responds, hands held in mock surrender. "I don't want to know what that smile can promise."

Teri's grin fades to a more normal grin of mischief. "Probly safest that way."

"Definitely safest that way."

Teri just smiles and turns to look over the vacant area of the base behind them. "Where'd the locals go?"

"Most took ship last night. I saw shuttles landing on the far side. Seems this outpost is being abandoned."

"Good or bad do you wonder?"

"Bad." Lexi says, suppressing a shudder. "Midnight exoduses are never for good reasons."

"Sounds like it's time for us to hotfoot it out of here." Teri starts to walk away, into the compound aiming for the far side. "Any word from Shepard or Kari?"

"Nay to both." Lexi draws her shotgun, following along behind Teri. "If Shepard plans on coming back for us, she gave no heads up."

Getting to the far gate Teri kneels down at the lock to begin her hack to open it. "And Kari?"

"She's playing the silent eye in the sky. Keep an eye on us but remain dark and silent."

Teri opens this lock faster than the last, having a knowledge of the turian style locking codes. As the doors open she yelps and discharges a overload and her drone as a husk swarms right in her face, arms and needle sharp fingernails reaching for her.

"Whoa!" Lexi says in surprise. She blasts the husk in the head, exploding it and sending a spray of gore across Teri's face.

"Oh so wrong!" Teri rolls to her feet, swiping the mess from her face. "Husk splatter."

A few more shots and the immediate area is clear. Teri grabs Lexi's arm. "We need to use your cloak. There's another base on the far side of this field, that's where we need to be." She pulls up her omnitool showing a radar holo. "We've got a big mess coming and we need to get across without them seeing. It might last long enough."

"Ok. Do we have to be in contact?"

"Yes, well, I think so. Best to be safe than sorry. I can fix it later. The radius isn't too big right now."

Lexi switches sides so she's holding Teri's right hand in her left. "I need my right hand free for my SMG, you work with your drone and we might make it across."

"Right." Teri summons up her drone, letting Riley float about four meters to her left, far enough out to draw fire away from them. "Ready." Lexi activates her cloak and the two set out across three plain.

The first ten meters or so go smoothly before the cloak peters out about five minutes across. "Oh crap..." Teri swears softly as the cloak fails.

"I thought you said it'd last all the way!?" Lexi holsters her SMG, unshipping her shotgun instead as she blasts husks and cannibals that are getting close.

"I said it might last, might!" Riley opens fire over Lexi's shoulder, seeing a marauder closing in on the two of them. Her shots spark of his shields slowly draining them. "Look out!" She calls, overloading his shields. As Lexi turns around Teri lands a kill shot to his head, causing it to explode, showering Lexi in gore.

"You have got to be kidding me!" She cries out, shaking her hands to rid them and her face of the mess.

Teri can't help laughing as she grabs Lexi, turning and pushing her ahead. "Call it payback, now move!"

They get to the gates of the Turian base. Teri hammers the door with her fist as Lexi keeps their backs clear. "Hey! Let us in! We're friendlies!"

A voice answers them from the base, "Clear the area and we might let you in. Not before."

"What is it with these turians?" Lexi moans as she takes out the last few husks, and gives them a breather for a moment.

Static hisses over both their coms all of a sudden before stabilizing into Kari's voice. "Lexi, Teri, I've got you guys covered, the LZ is clear and Shepard is sending a shuttle back for us. I'll cover your backs if you can make a run for it. It's due northeast from your position."

"Copy that." Teri responds, turning to look in that direction, it's across the field to their right. Before she gets a chance to say more a deep rumble shudders through the ground. "Uh-oh..."


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note:**Hey there guys. Got another chapter for ya guys. Bit of action, some camaraderie, cheek. Fun times.

Also, check out my good friend cgdrum. She has another version of Mass Defect going, "The Forgotten Squad"

R&R please, and enjoy!

* * *

"No." Lexi says softly, "No uh-ohs." A brute comes from around the bend of a rock formation, cannibals and marauders on its heels. "Not good!"

"Brute!" Teri calls out, tossing a turret low and far, sending her drone out as well she draws her Valkyrie assault rifle and stitches shots across the head and shoulder of the beast.

"No shit." Lexi says, pulling up her omnitool. "I've got enough charge left for one. Teri, use your gadgets, keep that brutes attention, Kari, I could use some heavy hitters from you on the brute, I'm going in." With that she activates her cloak and vanishes. Sparks off her shotgun and cannibals falling showing the path she takes toward the brute.

Teri directs her turret to target it's rockets on the brute, the thick armor of the beast shrugs off most of the damage, but the constant onslaught from her rifle and the rockets has it distracted and confused on who or what to target.

It charges towards Teri, it heavy clawed arm raised to strike. Four shots ring out, sparking across its head and brow. It slows and shifts its charge to change direction, looking for the origin of the shots. Lexi comes in behind it, unloading all four shots in her shotgun into the side and rear of the brute.

It roars loudly, changing direction once more, sweeping its heavy clawed arm out and around to hit what it can't see.

"Lexi! Look out!" Teri fires off an incinerate that splashes fire across the head of the brute, blinding it long enough for Lexi to dart and roll out of the way.

As she comes up her cloak flickers and dies, "Well, that was close." She quips and chins her coms, "Kari, we need something bigger to take this bastard down."

"I thought you'd never ask." Kari loads her explosive rounds and lines up her shot. Teri has the unfortunate luck of having drawn in closer to incinerate the brute at the same time Kari fires her explosive round. The two combined sets off an explosion, rendering the brute to a bomb of green gore, slime and chunks of synthetic and organic flesh and bone. Teri in the middle of the shower of not all.

"Oh gods!" She moans, shaking her arms to rid some of the slime that clings to her. It does little good. She wipes at her face and glares at Lexi who is nearly doubled over in laughter. Thankfully the explosion rid the area of the remaining reapers. "Oh so glad I provide amusement!" She hollers, spitting out slime that clings around her mouth and gets in.

Lexi recovers herself enough to stand straight, failing at suppressing a grin. "Yeah, green isn't really your color."

The glare Teri gives has Lexi chuckling on laughter again. "Kari, you are one dead woman when we meet again." She grumbles under her breath. Trying and failing to rid herself of more slime.

"Teri, you somewhere under all that slime?" Kari asks over her coms. "You guys are about a click away from the LZ."

Teri grabs a piece of chunk and shakes it off, it lands near Lexi, stringing slime across her chest.

"Oy! I don't need you to share!" She cries out, quickly trying to scrape off the grime.

Teri grins and gives a shuddering shake to get as much off as she can before she draws up her omnitool, lighting up with a locator dot on her compass, "Shuttle's that way," she points northwest, "Shouldn't take long to get there." Teri choses to ignore Kari's comment about being buried under slime.

They set off across the landscape, eyes and guns trained sharp for any more reapers. They reach the ridge down towards the waiting shuttle and Teri sighs in relief. "Kari, we're in sight of the shuttle. Come on down and rendezvous with us at the shuttle."

"Copy that. Meet you there." Kari signs off the coms and stands up, collapsing her black widow as she steps to the edge of her cliff and starts her trek and slides down the steep side back towards the shuttle.

Lexi and Teri easily slide down the loose gravel sides of the ridge, coming up beside the shuttle. Teri shakes off more of the slime that still clings to her. Unknowing Kari is coming up behind her as she slings a particularly big glob off. It smacks straight across her chest, shoulder and neck.

"Oh no! You did not just do that." Kari grabs at the grime attempting to shake it off. "I managed to avoid all the mess."

"Payback's a bitch, ain't it?" Teri can't help but chuckle as she sees Kari try and fail to remove the slime.

Lexi catches Teri's eye, grinning wolfishly behind Kari's back. "Here, I gotta thank you for covering our asses so well." Before she has a chance to dodge away Lexi folds Kari into a tight hug. Covering her well with the collected grime of husk, marauder, and brute gore and grime.

Teri guffaws out laughing, "Oh way to share the love!" She picks up a rock to attempt to scrape off more of the slime. It fails, hardly touching it. "I'm doomed. Shepard's gonna quarantine me."

"That or spray you down in the cargo bay." Lexi grins and fails again at not laughing.

"C'mon guys. Let's get off this planet. Cortez will probly kill us for gunking up his shuttle." Kari turns and boards the shuttle.

The shuttle ride back is full of camaraderie chatting and, on Teri's part, more slime cleaning and sharing with Kari. By the time the shuttle lands aboard the Normandy Kari is sporting a slime slicked nose and cheek, and her hair is gummed with slime as well. Lexi laughs both at Teri's audacity, and Kari's predicament.


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note:**Got a shorter chapter today for you. Yay for character building!

Enjoy! R&R please!

* * *

Once aboard the Normandy the three marines step from the shuttle, Teri trailing a bit of slime behind her like a train.

"See, that's just wrong." She says as she reaches to unfasten her breast plate and armor pieces.

"It is quite the sight." Lexi tries and fails to suppress a chuckle. Her attempt coming out as a choked snort.

"Oh that's attractive." Kari looks to Teri. "How you planning on getting that off?"

Teri rids herself of the last pieces of gunked armor, spotting the sprayer Cortez uses to clean the shuttle she grins, "With that. It should have enough power to blast it clean."

"That's clever." Kari looks over her own armor, now streaked with slime and gore, courtesy of Lexi. "I might borrow that idea after my shower."

"No way." Lexi says, making a beeline to the lift, shedding armor as she goes, "Dibs on first shower!" She laughs as she boards the lift. Before the other two have a chance to catch up, she's shut the doors and is gone.

"She's a sneaky one." Kari comments as she begins stripping her armor off.

"She's also gonna regret leaving her armor around like that. Surefire way to make her cleaning harder. I plan to clean the shower. The sprayer might even help me clean off a bit."

Kari looks at her armor, flicks a bit of slime that's creeping down her nose and shrugs. "Showers first for me. Catch you later."

Teri shakes her head as Kari walks away, "Yep. Tellin' ya, it'll be easier to clean now than later." Kari simply waves her hand back as she walks off.

Teri chuckles slightly and carries her dirty armor over to the low trench by the sprayer. Setting to work it doesn't take her long to finish cleaning off her armor. By the time she has finished Lexi and Kari have returned, talking animatedly about some gun or other.

Teri smiles at them as she sets down her Valkyrie she had just finished cleaning. "I'll have you know Kari, you have some serious payback owed to me. I had slime imbedded in weapons and gear I didn't even use this mission."

Kari grins a grin more predatory than Teri's wolf's grin, "I'll pay up, don't you worry. I foresee bigger targets to splatter you with."

"Don't get much bigger than a brute." Lexi says under her breath sarcastically.

Teri waves them off and grins crookedly. "Enjoy sand blasting all that crud off your armor. I'm off to the showers and a glass of tea." She walks to the lift and rides away, leaving the other two in the cargo hold.

Exiting the lift she turns toward crew quarters to grab a change of uniform before showering. Stepping into the showers she doesn't even bother with folding and stowing her slime slicked under suit, she simply chucks it down the garbage and steps into the blissfully hot shower.

Grabbing last shower has it's downfalls as her hot water quickly starts to run out. Leaving her hopping from foot to foot in the freezing cold, swearing as only a marine could swear.

She quickly dresses in her ship blues before heading out to the mess, finger combing her long hair back into a horsetail.

Coming into the mess she meets up with Lexi and Kari as they disembark the lift.

"Fancy meeting you here." She jokes as she goes to the kitchen to prepare the usual iced sweet and hot teas for her and Lexi. Midway through it she realizes she doesn't know what Kari drinks.

Looking up to the table where they're sat she hollers, "Hey, Kari. What are you drinking?"

Kari smiles slightly as she turns around to answer. "Coffee, black. And thanks."

"Gotcha, fellow black coffee drinker, I like." She quickly makes a cup, then comes to the table and passes out the drinks.

Taking a seat herself she sips at the tea carefully. "So, while the break from the brig was appreciated, why are you on the Normandy Kari?"

Kari looks up from her coffee, smiling. "You were stuck in there from breaking the captain's door, figured it was a bit much of a punishment."

"But why? It only landed us on Menae anyway." Lexi takes to big a drink and winces from her tea.

"For adventure."

Teri sighs and tries not to roll her eyes, "Back to my original question. Lexi and I have been here from the time we left Earth. What brought you here?"

"Marine reinforcement." This time Teri does roll her eyes.

Lexi resists the urge to do so herself, "They don't just send N7 marines randomly for backup." She looks skeptically at Kari, "Especially to the Normandy."

Kari holds up her hands in surrender, "Whoa, easy does it on the questions. I'll tell."

Teri sits back, giving a critical eye to Kari when she doesn't explain right away, instead she looks thoughtful for a few minutes.

"Waiting.." Teri sighs as she starts tapping her foot on the deck, being of the not patient variety.

"I was stationed on a frigate, the SSV Rigoletto. We answered a distress call, the ship was taken out by Batarian slavers. it took the Alliance two weeks to format a rescue. After that they assigned me here. Maybe they were impressed by my survival skills or they thought you guys needed a medic and sniper on your team. I don't know why."

A young private comes up to their table holding a datapad in his hands. "You're the new squad, right?" He looks squirmy and overwhelmed, talking fast.

"Yeah, something like that." Teri says, smiling her wolf's grin to unnerve him more. "Why?"

He gulps almost audibly as he holds out the datapad in a shaky hand, "Orders from the captain, ma'am. Classified ops on Omega." When Teri takes the datapad he lets go like she might bite him and double times it away.

"Teri.." Lexi sighs impatiently, "Why do you always have to tease the privates?"

"Cause I can." she grins and finishes her glass of tea, keying in her access code for the datapad files.

She takes a little while to read them, a slow grin spreading across her face. Kari is the one to grow impatient this time. "Well? What's it say?"

"A cerberus R&D depot has some big shot operative doing some overseeing of a shipment. We're to scout out the terrain and stop the shipment. Capture the operative if we can, and confiscate the shipment. All while undercover. Civies and no Alliance markings."

"Oh this'll be fun." Lexi says, Teri's grin proving infectious, as she begins grinning herself.

"How long until we arrive?" Kari asks, looking from one grinning face to the other, "And why do I have the sinking feeling you two are gonna need serious back up?"

"Cause we're troublemakers." Teri says with a laugh. "We'll be there by tomorrow afternoon."

"Plenty of time for planning then." Lexi says getting up to refill drinks.

Their planning moves from the mess to the Observation deck by mid afternoon and lasts well into the evening hours before the three retire for the evening.


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note:**Got a early chapter for you this week. gonna try and aim for a monday release each week. Got a little charie development and some action for you guys this week.

Enjoy!

R&R please!

* * *

The following day sees the three marines decked out in civvies entering the well known club of Afterlife. Teri walks in the lead, black cargo pants worn loose over combat boots. A black tight leather jacket hugs her figure, unzipped to show the black muscle tank she wears. Her medium length red hair is tied back leaving her amber eyes prominent. Her Paladin pistol rests comfortably in a thigh holster well visible. Less so is the eight inch blade tucked in her right boot, the hilt accessible through a cleverly cut pocket in her pants. Her stride speaks of confidence and control while still feeling as natural and low key in the run down streets of Omega.

Lexi wears a similar outfit. Her cargo pants are bloused over her boots, she wears no jacket, her short sleeve shirt showing well muscled arms and shoulders. Her short sandy brown hair swept back from her face and sharp blue eyes. Her shorter stature is no less intimidating than the long wiry muscle Teri's jacket currently hides. Lexi wears a modified shotgun in a hip and thigh holster, more compact than a conventional shotgun, this one has less range but a more forceful, wider spread of shot. Brutal when used expertly. Her opposite hip shows a six inch blade holstered and looking deadly.

The final Marine in the group, Kari has opted for overly casual, a black hooded jacket that conceals a deadly array of knives strapped inside, looser black pants and only a pistol visible on her thigh. She is between Lexi and Teri in height, having a stockier build. Her muscle showing in her chest and shoulders most. She has short cropped dark hair and dark flashing grey eyes.

All three have the appearance of rough and rugged mercenaries going for a casual drink between jobs. The gangs of Omega give them a wide berth with wary eyes. Civilians don't even look, just move right along. Having grown used to the influx of mercenaries since Cerberus' takeover of the station.

Kari signals to the others she'll grab them a table while Lexi and Teri head to the bar. Ordering three whiskies and the bottle Teri carries them to the table against the wall near the balcony. Aria's famous red couch just visible from their vantage point.

"Do we have any clue as to the location we're looking for?" Teri asks, setting the glasses and bottle down.

Kari pushes her glass away with a look of distaste. "I'll pass, thanks."

"What's the matter?" Lexi looks to Kari like she has two heads. "You don't drink whiskey? It's a classic!"

"I don't drink period." Kari says as she stands up and heads towards the bar.

"What kind of Ma-," Teri starts to say 'marine' but catches herself, "Merch doesn't drink?"

"The solitary kind." Lexi replies, pouring out glasses for each of them. "You heard what she said. Stranded with batarians? Not surprised she doesn't."

"All the more reason to drink. I wouldn't want to remember all that all the time."

"Maybe she's smarter than us."

"Gods, don't tell her that." Teri raises her glass, grinning crookedly, "More for us then."

"More for us." Lexi echoes, toasting her glass with Teri's.

"What are you two toasting about?" Kari returns carrying a steaming mug of coffee, "And any sign of our big shot?"

"No, no sign of him yet." Teri says, her grin sliding away slightly as she takes a sip, savoring the whiskey. "We're toasting your lack of drinking, leaves more for us."

"Are we sure he'll visit here?" Lexi takes a casual glance around the bar, casting her eyes briefly up to the empty balcony.

"If Aria makes home base here, Cerberus will too." Teri takes another sip of whiskey and smiles as she sets the glass slowly down, her eyes lighting on a Cerberus man that just entered the balcony from the rooms behind. "Told ya we'd find him." She nods subtly up.

The other two follow her gaze and Kari whistles softly, "I'm impressed. How did you know?"

"Now, now, you can't open the book of my life and jump in the middle." Teri grins wickedly. "Suffice to say I know the way of merchs and scavengers like Cerberus."As the Cerberus agent makes his way down the stairs and towards the door Teri nods to Kari and Lexi. "Off I go. Track my omnitool when I give the ping. One following is less suspicious than three." With that she downs the last of her whiskey and slips out the booth, disappearing into the shadows of the club, stalking casually after the agent.

"Did she just do what I think she did?" Kari asks, incredulous.

"Ditch her team? Yeah, she did." Lexi downs her whiskey scowling.

"EDI," Kari says opening a comes channel. "Run a trace on Richards' omni tool please."

"I am sorry," EDI responds, "Something is blocking her signal."

"Three guess what and who." Lexi grumbles.

"Thanks EDI." Kari signs off her coms. "Can she do that?"

"She is a tech whiz. I wouldn't be surprised."

"Great so now we have no way of tracking her?"

"Not until she pings us."

"That's just brilliant." Kari mumbles as she finishes her coffee. "Now what?"

"We wait I suppose." Lexi refills her glass and leans back in her chair, trying not to show her worry.

"Right, wating it is then." Kari gets up to get herself another coffee and settle in to wait.

Teri follows the agent for about ten blocks, all the while worried every time he passes a transit stop. If he boards one she'll lose him for good without a skycar of her own. Lucky for her he never does. On one of his many stops to check for any followers she stops at a small shop that sells hats and picks up a jet black fedora. Using the mirror to check her reflection she sees the agent turn and start to walk away again, she quickly pays for the hat and resumes her task. Glad to have the hat brim to hide behind. He stops only once more before he turns into the cargo yards and leads her to a warehouse on the lower docks.

She dodges behind crates and pallets working her way closer to the agent when he stops to talk with a trooper and a man in civvies. Unfortunately they are too far away for her to hear what they are saying.

Drawing up her omnitool to send the ping she feels a gun muzzle press against the back of her head, "Stop what you're doing and hand it over."

She curses under her breath and debates fighting her way out. When she sees two troopers come around the crate in front of her, rifles leveled, she changes her mind.

One of them can see her pistol and calls out, "On your knees, and hand over that pistol, nice and easy."

Swearing again she shuts off and auto locks her omnitool. Drawing it off her arm slowly she hands it to the guy behind her. He snatches it from her hand and roughly grabs her gun from its holster.

He hits her hard on her shoulder with the butt of his rifle, driving her to her knees. "Try anything funny and you get a bullet in your brainpan." He growls from behind her.

"I think I'd prefer my brainpan to stay empty. Thanks all the same."

His answer is a buffet from his rifle butt across her back, the force of the blow knocking her forward. She braces herself on her hands and knees, gasping for breath. And hears one of the other troopers call out to his boss, presumably the agent.

"Well, well. What have we here?" She looks up through a veil of her hair that's come loose from its tie, her hat having been knocked off from the second attack. The agent bends down to pick up her hat, dusting it off he spins it in his hand. He is a tall man, well muscled and british by his accent. "A little song bird come to spy or a rat looking to steal."

Teri pushes herself back to her knees, feeling the man behind her put a firm grip on her shoulder she knows not to stand. "Either one, or neither two is all you're getting from me." She says sweetly to him, flashing her crooked grin.

The agent is less than amused, backhanding her hard enough to split her lip open. "Cheek will get you nowhere good. Tell me who sent you and why you're here."

She remains steadfastly silent, spitting out blood from her split lip across his boots. This earns her another solid back handing from him.

"Tell me, or this ends badly for you."

"Dead men tell no tales." She grins at him. He makes a hand signal to his troop behind her and her world explodes into white hot pain before blackness swallows her up.


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note:**Hey there. Sorry for the delay. Spent the past week out in Seattle for the Pax convention. Am back now.

If you have time, check out this work by my best friend, cgdrum; The Forgotten Squad.

It's a parallel story based off the same role play as this one. She writes very well. Definitely worth a read.

* * *

Four drinks and two hours later, Lexi's worry turns to real concern. They should have heard something by now. She drops her feet from the table where they had been propped and pushes her mostly full fifth glass away. "Something's wrong." She says looking to Kari.

"Maybe he's taking a leisurely stroll. Two hours, while a long time, isn't cause for worry yet."

"Novak and Andrews," EDI comes across their comes, omitting 'Marines' like she would normally address them, "Richards' omnitool has been shut off. I have no trace on it and the signal shut off was abrupt."

"Now do you think everything is 'alright'?" Lexi growls."EDI, is there anything you can give us? a last known area of location? anything?"

"I am sorry Novak, I do not have any location of Richards' omnitool."

"Right, thanks EDI." Lexi signs off her coms and stands up, looking to Kari. "We need to find out where that base is."

"That agent came down from the balcony, I bet we could find someone up there who might be persuaded to help us." Kari grins evilly, an idea turning over in her head.

"Somehow that grin gives me no comfort, and I dread what your idea of persuasion is." Lexi replies warily.

"Don't worry, I was gonna start with persuasion of the monetary variety."

"And if that doesn't work?"

"Then there are other methods."

"That's what worries me.." Lexi trails off as she sees a Cerberus man coming down the stairs from the balcony. He's talking animatedly into his coms, and seems agitated and elated at the same time.

"Betcha that's our ticket in." Kari stands up, spotting the same man as Lexi.

"Wait," Lexi hisses as Kari starts to walk away. It's too late as Kari sets off, unhearing or ignoring, Lexi. She swears as she keenly watches her approach the man. a few words are exchanged before a scuffle breaks out and Kari shoves the man into one of the private rooms. Lexi quickly gets up and rushes over to the room.

Coming inside she is appallled when she sees Kari has the man pinned to the ground, viciously twisting her boot knife into his knee. "Kari!" She cries out, too shocked to do anything.

"What?" Kari says casually as she turns her head to look back, "I'm a bit busy here, go keep watch if you're so worried."

Lexi scowls but turns away, stepping back outside. She is disgusted but part of her knows that the man wouldn't give up the information willingly. Instead she has to hear his cries and sobs as he begs Kari to stop, swearing to give her whatever she wants.

It doesn't take long for him to tell where the base is and the security codes to enter, begging for his life the whole while.

A sudden gargled cry has Lexi turning around in time to see the last of his life bleed out his neck as Kari cleans her knife on the man's pant leg. "What'd you kill him for? He gave you what you wanted!"

"He was still a threat to us alive." Kari says simply.

"A threat?! He was crippled and now we have a dead body to hide." Lexi is outraged at Kari, disturbed by her lack of empathy for the man she tortured.

"It's Omega, nobody will question it, not if we take his gear. Simple robbery gone awry." Kari sets about cleaning out the man's pockets, omnitool and side arm, stashing it all in her pockets and tucking his pistol in her boot.

"This is wrong." Lexi mutters under her breath as she turns away. "Please tell me that we got good info for it all."

"Yes we did, he says they captured someone matching Teri's description and are taking her to their base for holding. As for him," she nods her head back to the man as they leave the room, "Sometimes you have to do what has to be done, even when it's not pleasant."

"C'mon then. We need to get back to the Normandy and suited up. I'm not about to infiltrate a Cerberus base unarmed."

"Let's get going then." Kari leads off out of Afterlife and to the Normandy.

Teri comes round, her head pounding and face stinging with blurred pain. She is laying sprawled on a cold concrete floor. Slowly she pushes herself to a sit, shaking her head slightly to clear her blurred vision, groaning from the increased pounding in her head.

"Ah, the sleeping beauty wakes." A man drawls near her.

She looks up and sees she is in a small three wall cell behind a barrier shield in front of her. "Where am I?" She says groggily, her world still spinning slightly. She reaches up to the back of her head, her hand comes away bloody. "Son of a-" she swears softly.

"Boss man wants to see you. but," He steps forward dropping the barrier. "He didn't specify in what condition. And we don't like spies."

She instinctively reacts to his threat, shooting to her feet. When her world spins violently she knows she's in trouble. His fist blindsides her across her left cheekbone and eye, she hits the floor hard, her previously split lip opening again as she tastes blood. Fighting back the pain she stands again, the room steadies enough she is mostly steady, ready for his next attack. It comes as an upper cut into her gut. She doubles over stepping back as she tries not to heave, her breath knocked from her lungs as well. Leaving her gasping and praying that he's had his fun.

An elbow to her back sends her crumpling to the ground, answering her question. She quickly curls her knees to her stomach, anticipating his boot to her abdomen, he hits her shin instead, lighting up a sharp pain from the force of his kick.

"You had enough yet, rat?" He taunts her, laughing. A swift kick connects with her back before she hears him laugh and walk away.

The frequency buzz of the barrier resumes, a small reassurance to her as she slowly uncurls. Her chest aches, her leg aches, her head is beyond aching at this point. She sits up and gingerly prods at her back and side, glad when she feels no grating or broken bones. Next she carefully touches at her cheek and nose, her left eye is quickly swelling shut. His fist, luckily, did not break her nose.

She licks at her lip, tasting the blood she spits out what's collected in her mouth."That's gonna be a hell of a shiner."

She hears footsteps coming and stands up, ready for a fight without showing she's Alliance. The last thing they need to know is that she's a marine. That could cause all kinds of issues.

The agent comes around the corner stepping into her view. He has changed from his cerberus uniform into casual civvies similar to what she has on, dark shirt and pants, leather jacket. "Glad to see you awake." he says calmly, stepping up to the barrier. "Looking a little rough for wear there."

"Get stuffed." she says to him, "You've your goon to thank for this."

"He does have a soft spot for spies."

"I'm no spy." She rubs absently at the split in her lip with her thumb.

"It looked like you were spying on me. Why?"

"You were awful handsome." she taunts, "Figured I could grab a date."

"I'll say it again, your cheek will get you nowhere." he signals for a tech nearby to lower the barrier. One of his troopers starts to come into the cell, she takes a swing at him, ducking low to hit into his gut, he doubles over into her upper cut. He hits the floor hard but two more rush in. A short tussle later, her other eye being blackened, and they have her arms pinned behind her.

"Well, well. You have spunk." The agent comes into the cell giving the trooper on the floor a nudge with his boot, the man gets up and steps back, glaring darkly at Teri.

"Do spies tend to have spunk?" she says sweetly. "Got an awful lot of muscle for just me."

"You've already proven yourself necessary of such. Now, tell me, who sent you, why were you following me?"

"Told ya, thought ya was handsome enough for a date." she grunts as someone's fist connects with her stomach and side.

The agent sighs, pinching his nose. "This is only going to get worse for you. Save yourself the pain."

She glares at him, her patience and wit wearing down with each hit. She suspects a concussion from the blow to her head, and it's only getting worse, making it harder and harder to stay focused. "You're Cerberus." she says wearily, "Thought I could find a job. Not everyday a girl finds a high ranking agent. Figured I'd impress ya with my skills."

The agent back hands her, sending her head reeling and stomach fluttering from dizziness. "Try again. No merch ever gets a job that way. Who are you?"

She stays silent, her grasp on consciousness slipping more. Her head drops forward as she loses the fight, a cuff from one of the troopers at her silence sending her to blackness again.


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Note:**Hey there guys. New chapter for those still following. Been a busy week and life is about to get busier, so updates may not be every week as I hope.

* * *

"You are a terrible driver." Kari growls as Lexi zips their commandeered sky car through the throngs of traffic at breakneck speeds.

Four hours have gone by since the signal went dead on Teri's omnitool, four hours that she's been in cerberus captivity. She knows cerberus is not known for subtlety or ease on their prisoners. Getting to Teri as fast as possible is worth hearing Kari complain constantly about her driving.

"Would you rather I go slow, while who knows what happens to Teri?"

"Alright, alright. Point taken." Kari grumbles, clenching the edge of her seat and the dash for dear life, "Whoa!" she cries out as Lexi drops the vehicle two lanes down to avoid an oncoming cargo truck.

"Oh hush, I've got this." Lexi takes a sudden swerve left and down three more lanes to come to a rough stop and landing in the warehouse district. Stepping out of the car she surveys the area. The few people around give wary looks and step away from the two women in full armor and armed.

"Ok. The trooper said the base is two blocks that way, it is heavily guarded but his pass should get one of us in undetected."

"I'll take that." Lexi takes the ID badge from Kari and tucks it into a pocket. "My cloak can get me close. You stay back, find a high place and keep an eye out for me."

They set out down the block, Kari peeling off when she spots a tall tower that will be perfect for her sniping. "I've got there, you keep going and I'll give you intel. I've got a thermal scope. So I'll be able to tell you what's in the base near you."

"Useful." Lexi whistles impressed as she watches Kari leave. She waits a few minutes to be sure she's in place then sets out herself toward the base location.

Coming out from behind the last warehouse she spots the base ahead. Kari's location is up and to her left, the tower giving her perfect line of sight over the base. It's a small base, just big enough to house a barracks and garage attached to a warehouse near the docks. She activates her cloak and slips out toward the base, running at a soft pace to cover the most ground silently.

"You've got two bogies coming your way, I'll take them out." Before Lexi has a chance to object she turns and sees the foreheads or both men be pierced by sniper rounds, the backs of their heads explode out.

"Son of a bitch.' She swears, "What the hell were you thinking?"

"They would have seen you open the door, they were a threat. uh-oh.."

"Uh-oh? No uh-ohs. What is it with you two and the 'uh-oh's" Lexi grumbles as she reaches her door. swiping the card she is happy it works and the door slides open.

"We've got company. Someone noticed the two I knocked down."

"No shit, ya don't say?" Lexi replies emphatically, as she slip down the myriad of halls of the base.

Kari's only answer is the crack of her sniper rifle as she continues her onslaught.

When she comes to, Teri hears two men talking. She blearily opens her eyes, she's laying sprawled on the floor of the cell again. This time more than her head aches and stings. What happened comes back to her and she groans involuntarily as she sits up holding her left side it feels like it's on fire.

"Good, you're awake." The agent opens the barrier to the cell, two of his men come in and haul her to her feet. She feels too weak and disoriented to fight back this time.

"You seem a bit more pissed this time." She drawls out. Trying for her usual cockiness and cheek. Knowing it's all she's got left right now, to stall until Lexi and Kari can come.

"It seems you have friends intent on your rescue." He signals his men as her turns away. they half carry her as she tries to walk under her own power, their pace making it difficult.

"I do like friends." An explosion rocks the building, the sound of men's screams come from down the hall.

The agent turns away from the sounds of battle. "You're coming with me. My boss would love to talk with you."

Another explosion sends them stumbling as it shakes the building. Teri intentionally tugs free of the grips of the men to sprawl across the floor, desperate to buy time. They haul her bodily back to her feet. She resists them this time, struggling all she can to break free.

"Knock it off and come along quietly, it'll only be worse if you struggle." The agent chides her. She gives a rough tug of her right arm against the grip of the man holding her. The answer to her struggle is a rifle butt to her collar bone. She cries out, recoiling from the pain. Their grip tightens again as they lead her off.

"Kari, what the hell are you using" Lexi says gruffly over the coms as the second explosion sends her stumbling away from the area.

"I call 'em building busters. Think rpg for a sniper."

"That's just nasty." Skirting the edge of the base she keeps looking for any kind of sign on where a detention area might be.

"Lexi, we've got a problem."

"No, no problems." she grumbles, "What is it?"

"It's Teri, and she doesn't look good. I've got two thugs manhandling her and the agent in the lead. They're heading across the cargo bay, looks like they are heading for a shuttle."

"Shit, that's not good. Please tell me there's a quick way from where I am."

"There is. Keep on the hall you're on. It'll dump you straight into the cargo bay near the shuttle. Hurry. I don't have a clear shot on any of them."

"Just great. Alright, I'm on my way. shoot the ground if you have to, just stall them." Lexi double times it down the hall, letting her cloak go.

"Can do." Kari grins as she lines up her shots to keep them dancing.

Teri can't help but laugh at the second shot that skirts off the ground in front of them, making the agent dance back. The third shot chokes off her laughter as it hits entirely too close to her feet. She jumps back and swears at Kari who could be the only one with such precise aim.

She ducks her head as she hears a bullet whiz past her and hit the ground near the commander. He skips back, crashing into the man on her left, they recover but not before she slips her arm out of his grip, twisting around behind the second who still holds her and ducking. She is just in time as the first trooper goes down, a sniper round through his shoulder. The second takes a round through his head.

She cries out as the agent grabs a fistful of her hair, yanking her up against him he raises his gun, scanning the area.

"Who ever is there, you take one more shot and she takes a bullet to the skull." He shifts his grip on her hair, yanking and holding her head back as he aims the gun under her chin.

"Teri!" Lexi calls out, she ducks into cover as the agent aims and fires at her. The shot goes wide pinging of the metal crate she's hiding behind. When he'd turned to fire Teri saw Lexi drop and kick her smg across the floor.

In the commotion of him shooting at Lexi, Teri takes a deep breath in anticipation and lets herself drop to the ground, crying out as hairs are ripped out. She scrabbles for the smg, laying on her back she fires up at the agent. Her aim is off as she stitches bullets up the leg and side of him instead of the groin and chest she was aiming for. He goes down screaming in pain. She rolls to her side and hits him in the head with the butt of the gun, putting him out. She rolls onto her back and lays there breathing heavy and shallow from all the pain all over her body.


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's Note:**For those still following. got a new chapter for you, a bit more charie devolpment and a little bit of action for ya.

Enjoy!

* * *

Lexi takes down two more troopers who turn their attention from guarding the shuttle to the fight that ensued.

She kneels down beside Teri looking her over. "Taken a thrashing haven't you?"

"I've had better days." She says softly laying back. Hitting her head sharply on the ground she winces.

"C'mon you it's not safe here and you need the doc."

"No arguments here." She groans as Lexi pulls her up, her world spinning again. She grasps tight to Lexi's arm until everything rights itself.

A sound catches Teri's attention looking over Lexi's shoulder. She swears and quickly draws Lexi's shotgun, shooting a trooper that had snuck up on them. The shot takes him in the gut doubling him over, killing him. The force of firing the shotgun one handed is enough to tumble her backwards and onto her back, her head hitting the ground harder this second time. Causing spots to swim in front of her vision.

"Alright, my smg is one thing, nobody touches my shotgun." Lexi quips before she turns to see the dead man. "Nice shot though.'

"Huzzah for me.." Teri murmurs raising her arm weakly in mock celebration, "I was aiming for his head."

"Ok, not so nice shot." Lexi reaches down and hauls Teri up again, steadying her.

"Are you two having fun down there?" Kari says into Lexi's coms.

"Yeah, yeah. Thanks for the help." Lexi responds. At Teri's raised brow she explains, "It's Kari. She's the one that took out your escort."

"And took more than a few shots for you." Kari says grumpily.

"Did they get you?" Lexi says chiding.

"No. But, still..was a near thing."

"As interesting it is to be hearing a one sided convo," Teri interrupts, "I would prefer we get out of here. I feel like I might be sick, have a broken rib, possible broken nose, and a hell of a lot of nasty bruises. That's enough fun without you lot bickering." Her conviction is lost as she sways unsteadily on her feet, the world listing to her.

Lexi boosts Teri up, holding her waist, draping Teri's arm across her shoulders. "C'mon you. Let's go."

"Right there with ya.." Teri has to focus harder and harder on not tripping over her own feet as everything starts feeling slow and sluggish.

"Um, Lexi..." Kari sound nervous across the coms.

"No ums." Lexi growls, "What ums?"

"Got a fresh squad coming in. Someone must have got a distress call out."

"How far, which way?" Lexi looks around warily, scanning the area.

While Lexi and Kari are talking Teri looks to her left wrist out of habit and groans, swearing profusely.

"What's the matter with you?" Lexi says turning to look.

"The damn bastards stole my omnitool." She looks back over Lexi's shoulder towards the base. "We gotta go get it."

"Oh no. Not happening. Sorry they stole it, but you aren't getting it back right now. We've got a squad coming our way from behind us and we need to move now."

Teri groans but turns back front and moves as fast as she can with Lexi's help. They can hear the snap of Kari's sniper as they pass under her tower. She's keeping an eye on their back, taking down any targets that she can.

"Right, good job. Let's go now. Sky car is just ahead." Lexi orders Kari as they move past. Feeling Teri getting heavier and her footing less and less sure she hoists her higher in her arm, "C'mon Teri, don't pass out on me now. We're almost there."

Teri mumbles "Right..here with..ya.."

Lexi sees the car ahead and helps Teri to lay in the back seat, mindful of her head wound. "Right, there ya go. No passing out, we'll get you back to the Normandy."

"I make no promises.." Teri groans as she rolls onto her side in the backseat.

Lexi casts a worried look at Teri before turning back to holler for Kari to hurry up. Kari come into view turning her back to spray the corridor with her rifle, driving back the incoming troopers. "Faster would be better Kari. Hurry it up!"

Kari turns back and sprints for the car, jumping in and closing the door in one smooth movement as Lexi lifts off and speeds the sky car through the streets.

Kari turns back to look in the backseat, seeing Teri curled in the backseat she sighs, "How you doing back there kiddo?"

Teri just groans in response, fighting back nausea and staying conscious.

Kari climbs over the seat back to examine Teri and call the Normandy to alert of a medical trauma coming in.

"I ain't that bad off." Teri grumbles as she forces herself to sit upright, leaning heavily against the back seat, clutching at her chest and side certain she's got broken ribs now.

"You have a massive laceration and bruising across the back of your head, almost certainly a concussion, a blatantly broken rib, possible broken nose, and multiple severe contusions. You're pretty bad off."

Teri grumbles again but concedes defeat, allowing Kari to examine her and apply a temporary bandage to her head and to a cut she didn't know she had across her temple and brow. "Wait, possible broken nose?" She tentatively reaches her hand up and feels her nose, the bridge of it lights up in pain and she gags on blood that slides down her throat. "Oh not cool..." She groans as she lets her hand fall back to her lap.

"Coming up on the docking area now." Lexi calls from the front seat as she swerves the car around and down to land.

She exits the car and comes around to the back door to help Kari get Teri out. They prop her up between them as they move towards the Normandy.

Chakwas meets them at the airlock, tutting over Teri's state as she helps them to lie her down on a hover stretcher. "What happened to you marine?"

Teri grins crookedly, wincing from her split lip which cracks open. "Cerberus doesn't like spies apparently.." She groans and closes her eyes fighting back nausea again.

Chakwas, lays a gentle hand on her shoulder, "Easy does it, you're safe now."

Teri nods slightly and gives in, letting herself pass into darkness.

Lexi and Kari follow Chakwas to the medba. Once there Chakwas orders them out and tells them she'll let them know when Teri is ready for visitors.

"That tells us." Kari says turning away. "Might as well take care of our armor."

"Yeah," Lexi says, only half paying attention to Kari, her eyes not leaving the medbay door. "I guess we should."

Kari tugs at her elbow, turning her around, "C'mon then, let's go."

Lexi pulls out of Kari's hold and heads to the lift, holding the doors open for her. Kari steps in and presses the button for the cargo bay. The lift slowly glides down to the bay.


	9. Chapter 9

**Author's Note:**Not much of note about this chapter. A longer one, mostly charie development. More action to come.

Enjoy!

* * *

Teri slowly comes round, blinking away the bright lights of the medbay. It takes her eyes a moment to adjust before she sees Lexi sitting by the foot of her bed, a concerned look briefly masks her face before she catches Teri's eyes and grins.

"There's our sleeping raccoon."

"Raccoon?" Teri says, reaching her hand to gingerly touch her nose and cheeks. The sensitivity there and pain tells her what Lexi meant. "Ah, shiners."

"A matched set of them. Looking pretty." Kari says as she comes into medbay holding three steaming mugs.

The smell of coffee and tea both turns Teri's stomach, and heightens her mood, smelling so good. "Oh gods, please tell me that's some good strong tea for me?"

Kari grins and hands Teri a large much of tea. "Strong and sweet, just like you like."

"How'd you know?"

"Lexi told me." Kari takes a sip from her coffee.

"She told you how I take my tea or that I'm strong and sweet?"

Lexi chokes on her tea, swearing as it burns her throat. "Oy! I so did not say that!"

Teri grins as Kari looks to Lexi, "You alright there?"

Lexi glares darkly at Teri before answering Kari, "Yes, I'm fine. Can we steer this conversation elsewhere, please?"

"I dunno, kinda curious now." Teri muses as she takes a drink of her tea, grinning crookedly at Lexi, who returns her grin with another glare.

"You know I meant the tea."

"Sure sweets." Teri says grinning, "This is a moment to record." She brings up her left wrist and swears, having forgotten they took her omnitool. "Mother fuckers..."

"What is it?" Kari asks, startled by Teri's swearing.

"Damn bastards took my omnitool."

"Why would they do that?"

"Probly thought they could get intel off it of why I was following them."

"So? You didn't. Did you?" Lexi says leaning forward.

"Of course I didn't." Teri says defensively, "I know better than to use my tool for surveillance."

"Then what's the big deal?" Kari asks, confused, "Go buy a new one."

"It's not that simple." Teri sets her tea aside, not in the mood for it anymore. "My tool has got more than regulation equipment and info. It's got blueprints and encryptions for the Normandy, not to mention the upgrades for my turrets and drones. My patches for Lexi's cloak."

"That's a lot of bad info for them to get.." Lexi whistles softly, impressed.

"It's highly encrypted and triple locked. They shouldn't be able to bypass or hack it." Teri chews absently at her lip, breaking open the cut again. "Shouldn't."

"Then we need to get that back." Kari says leaning onto her knees, "Sooner rather than later."

"I agree." Teri rubs absently at her left arm, missing the familiar weight of her tool.

"Me as well. The last thing I want is someone getting the info for that cloak patch. That's mine."

"Don't worry." Kari says, putting a hand on Lexi's knee, "We'll get it back."

"How? They aren't gonna let us waltz back in there. Not after last time."

"We'll figure out something." Teri says, sitting up and dropping her legs over the side of the bed. "Right now I need a shower and change, then planning over a good meal."

"Right," Kari pushes herself to her feet, "You get your shower, I'm heading to the gym and we can meet later."

"The gym?" Lexi asks, incredulously. "Really?"

"It's where I do my best thinking." Kari smiles and leaves the med bay, giving them a small wave over her shoulder.

"What am I supposed to do now?" Lexi says getting up and helping Teri to stand.

"Dunno. I hear engineering calling my name."

"You too? What happened to planning?"

"Can do that while I work."

"You will be doing no such thing." Chakwas orders sternly as she comes over. The glare she gives Teri has her sitting back down on the bed.

"Um, yes ma'am." She says meekly. "At least let me out of here. I ain't sick and not seriously injured enough to need observation."

"You have a concussion, it's plenty of reason for observation."

Lexi steps out of medbay quietly, giving Teri a teasing grin as she goes.

"C'mon doc!" Teri complains, "At least let me have a shower, I feel rotten in these clothes still."

Chakwas purses her lips in thought before she sternly tells Teri, "Shower and light duty only. You do that and you won't have to return here. You do anything strenuous and I'll lock you in here chained to the bed."

"Yes Ma'am." Teri holds her tongue in cheek and nods to Chakwas as she stands back up, fighting not to sway as the room shifts around her.

Chakwas looks her over critically, "Take it easy and don't let me see you over do it." Teri grins, saluting before she turns and leaves the medbay.

Once in crew quarters Teri pulls out a fresh uniform and takes it with her to the showers. Clean and changed she admires the mottling of bruises across her sides, stomach, and face. Cerberus having done a number on her. She gingerly touches the back of her head and feels the bandage Chakwas has put over the wound. The skin and muscles around it are extremely sensitive to her touch. She winces and draws her hand back, lightly shaking her head.

She leaves the showers and heads to the mess, wondering where Lexi might have gotten off to while Doc held her back. Seeing the tea things left out she makes herself a cup of tea and decides to check the Starboard Observation deck. Lexi's been known to hang out there from time to time.

Entering she is unsurprised to see Lexi sitting on the couch, her back to Teri, looking out the view port at the expanse of space.

"Contemplate the cosmos are we?" Teri asks as she comes around the couch and takes a seat beside her.

"Holy shit!" Lexi jumps and nearly spills her tea. "Give a girl a warning next time, will ya."

"You must've been seriously in thought there."

"I was. Was thinking on how to get your tool back."

"Good thing to think on. Got any ideas?"

"Besides waiting on someone to happen by Afterlife that we can follow?" at Teri's dark look she smiles, "Teasing. Teasing. No I haven't got anything yet."

Teri looks out the window and sighs. "Well, we could move this planning to Afterlife, see if we spot any leads while we're there."

"Doc gonna let you off ship?"

"Does she gotta know?" Teri grins wryly. "What about Kari?"

"What about her?"

"Should we invite her along?"

"She doesn't drink, what's the point? We're aiming for full on casual and blending in. She's no good at that."

"Ok, so we leave her to her gym time then." Teri stands up as she finishes off her tea. "C'mon then, let's go. I could do with a walk and a whiskey or two."

Once in afterlife the two marines take seats at the bar, watching the patrons come and go, Teri is keeping her eyes on the dancers and their clients. Each group that sits and watches them seems to not take notice if they hear them or not. It gives her an idea as she sips at her whiskey that Lexi hands her.

"What are you thinking? Besides how attractive the dancers are."

"Oh hush you, I wasn't looking at that." at Lexi's dry look she amends, "Ok not only looking at that."

"What else were you thinking on?"

"On how a lot of things get said in front of those Asari and no one seems to care that they are there and can hear…"

"You're thinking one of them may have heard something we can use."

"I'm thinking maybe so." she takes another sip of whiskey watching to see if the Cerberus men have a particular affinity for any one dancer.

"It's a long shot, but a good one." Lexi turns back to the bar, "Let me know when you find one, I'll help you ask nicely."

"Oh, I won't be needing your help." Teri grins crookedly having caught the eye of one of the dancers as a knot of cerberus goons drunkenly able away. "I've got better plans."

Lexi turns back to see Teri grab the whiskey bottle and mock salute her with two fingers.

"Don't wait up for me." she grins once more before taking the arm of the dancer. They start to walk away talking as Lexi shakes her head over Teri's continued audacity, but also at how smoothly she made that work.

She turns back to the bar as Teri disappears out the club doors. She has her own idea and waves the bartender over for a talk, flashing a few extra credits his way to encourage him.


	10. Chapter 10

**Author's Note:**Hey there. Gots a new chapter here for you guys. Work is keeping me busy but I'll aim for a chapter a week.

Enjoy!

R&R please!

* * *

Through various means of flirtation and friendliness Teri plays off the mercenary engineer and learns the location of a Cerberus base. It's where they do a lot of their R&D work.

Spending the rest of the evening very agreeably she loses track of time and the whiskey bottle as the evening progresses.

Meanwhile in Afterlife Lexi has bribed a meeting with a Cerberus tech engineer from the bartender and is subtly checking over her weapons as she waits in the private room arranged for the meeting.

Once the tech comes in and the doors shut, Lexi makes her move. Quickly disarming and subduing the woman.

"Sorry, but you guys have something my friend needs." She draws her pistol and aims it at the woman. "I need your uniform, ID badge, and the location of your research base. Give me that and I let you live."

The woman nods quickly, being a tech and not a fighter it doesn't take much to convince her. She takes off her Cerberus shirt, tossing it at Lexi's feet, followed by her ID badge. "The base you want, it's above the warehouse districts. It's a stand alone building, my badge has level four access, should get you through most doors. Just please, don't kill me."

"I'm not gonna kill you. Thanks for the info, now, you need to stay out of the way for awhile." Lexi hits the woman squarely on the temple with her pistol butt and lays her out on the couch in the room. Gathering up the supplies she loads them into her pack. Leaving the room she locks the doors on her way out.

Back aboard the Normandy, Kari steps back from the punching bag. Having lost track of time while she worked out she still hasn't come up any good ideas. She feels a little bad because, truth be told, she hadn't really thought on it like she said she would.

She dries off her face with a towel, downing a bottle of water as she heads toward the lift. Once up at the crew deck she doesn't take notice of the empty mess as she heads to crew quarters. she quickly showers and changes before returning to the mess.

She stops a nearby crew member as he passes by her in the mess, "Do you know where marines Novak and Richards are?"

"No, sorry." He shakes his head and continues on his way.

"EDI, give me the locations of Novak and Richards."

"Richards last known location was an apartment in the lower wards, Novak was last located in the Afterlife club en route back to the Normandy."

"Thank you EDI, that'll be all." Kari starts to make up cups of tea and coffee for her and Lexi. She is curious to know why Teri is in the wards and feels for sure Lexi will know. And maybe they have found a way to get Teri's tool back.

As Lexi returns to the Normandy, she lays her pack on her bunk in crew quarters before heading to the mess for a cup of tea. She is startled to see Kari is sat at one of the tables and has set out a cup of tea for her.

"Hello there." she says, taking a seat and drinking the tea. "Thanks."

"Where's Teri at? Did you guys come up with a plan?"

"I have a plan, I'm not sure what she is going to find out. If anything."

"But where is she?"

"She picked up an asari at Afterlife. I think the plan was to get information. If she hasn't come back by now, I'd say plans changed."

"Are you saying what I think you are?"

"Probly."

"That's just wrong. Shepard would have her ass for taking unauthorized leave."

Lexi bristles at the implication that Kari might say something to Shepard. "Then don't tell."

"Someone else might notice."

"I doubt it. Now stuff it before someone does take notice." Lexi finishes off her tea and leans forward onto the table. "I have the location, and a way of access, we'll need to make this a team effort. And it has to stay covert."

"I can do covert. I am a sniper after all."

"Yeah, right." Lexi grumbles softly before replying. "The base is above the warehouse district, an R&D facility. I've got a tech's uniform and omnitool as well as access badge. I figure Teri goes in with that, I'll follow with my cloak, and you can act as our eyes in the sky. Do you have a thermal scope?"

"Yes I do, and it's got an IFF chip so it can distinguish between you guys and the bogies."

"Good to know." Lexi looks at the time on her chrono and yawns slightly at the late hour. She must have spent more time in Afterlife than she thought. "Late as it is now, we can't do anything until Teri returns, so we'll need to set this in motion tomorrow."

"I agree." Kari finishes off her coffee and stands, stretching before she takes both cups to the mess. "C'mon then, rack time. Hopefully Teri is back by the morning. maybe the commander won't notice anything."

"I told ya she won't." Lexi turns away and walks to crew quarters, quickly changing and laying down on her rack. Sleep claims her quickly before Kari even comes in herself to change and sleep.

Teri returns to the ship late into the night, glad when the night watch doesn't ask any questions or log in her late return. She makes her way down to crew quarters, when she sees both her squad mates asleep it gives her a sigh in relief. She slowly and quietly changes out of her uniform and settles on her bed, thinking of the events of the night. She grins when she thinks on it, glad her many bruises didn't cause any issues. she gingerly touches at her nose, cursing the break in it. and the sensitive bruising that rings it and her eyes. She hopes no one will ask questions tomorrow when they infiltrate the base. Letting her imagination wander back on the night she falls asleep quickly.


	11. Chapter 11

**Author's Note:**New chapter for you guys. For those still reading, thank you for sticking around, I appreciate your loyalty.

Enjoy! R&R please!

* * *

The morning sees the three marines around a mess table swapping information and plans.

"Ok," Teri leans forward on her elbows addressing Lexi, "So you've got the uniform and badge for me. We both have the same location, so that's helpful. Kari, where are you gonna be?"

"I'll be in a nearby building providing you guys nav info and covering fire if needed."

"Sounds good." Lexi says, "Long as you don't fire till we say we need it."

"I can do covert just fine."

"Knock it off you two." Teri interjects the budding argument. "Let's get suited up. Light armor and low armament."

"For you two maybe." Kari says as she sets off to the lift, holding the door. "I can go heavy for protection."

"Long as you can shoot straight, armor up as you need. Just be wary of anyone asking questions before you get to your location. Unmarked armor only." Lexi chids her.

"Unmarked and heavy is good if you leave before us, get set up." Teri says as they exit the lift. "Lexi and I will follow, no one should question a cerberus tech and a merch." Kari nods as she settles her last bit of armor. Collapsing her sniper she halfway salutes them and heads off.

"Here's your new uniform." Lexi says with a grin as she hands over the techs uniform shirt and badge. "It should be big enough to fit over your light armor."

"Good." Teri takes the shirt, dressing in her armor she slips the shirt over and clips the badge on. It is hard to tell she is armored underneath which is a good thing. She straps a spare pistol to her side, lamenting the loss of her paladin. She hopes to find her pack with her omnitool. "Alright, let's go."

Lexi nods and settles her armor, shipping her shotgun. "Ready when you are."

They set off across Omega, casually moving as they follow the directions given by the asari and cerberus tech. It doesn't take them long to find the warehouse building they are looking for.

Once the reach the open area in front of the base Teri holds out a hand to stop Lexi. "Time for your cloak. We'll see if this ID works for us."

"It'll work." Lexi says gruffly, mildly offended. "Like you don't trust me."

"Easy does it. Let's go." Teri watches as Lexi hits her cloak, with a shimmer she disappears. "That never gets old." She mutters, never ceased to be amazed by the cloak.

"Admire it later, let's go." Lexi says amused.

Teri hits her coms, "How's it look for us Kari?"

"Got two targets on the roof, snipers."

"Leave them be. We'll see how this disguise works."

They hear two soft pops over Kari's mike as she responds, "Too late."

"Seriously?" They weren't a threat." Teri complains as she pinches the bridge of her nose, forgetting the break. She winces and growls. "You better hope that doesn't compromise the mission."

"It'll be fine, quit fussing."

Lexi puts her hand on Teri's shoulder, saying softly off coms, "She's trigger happy. Let's go. It'll be fine."

They move out across the field, Teri slow and nonchalant, Lexi holding close on her heels. When they near the base Teri pulls out the keycard and waves it in front of the scanner. Nothing happens for a moment before a soft beep echoes out and the light changes green as the latch clicks on the door.

"Step one complete." Teri murmurs. "Kari," She murmurs into the radio before opening the door. "How's it look inside?"

"One moment." Kari responds quickly, "You're clear. four bogies on your level, three above and about a half dozen on the back side of the building."

Teri opens the door and steps into the hall beyond. She quickly pulls up her map on the spare omnitool she's using, and looks for the labs. "One floor up, and down the hall." She murmurs to Lexi, closing her map as she sets off down the hall for the lift to go up.

The lift is midway down the hall on their left. Stepping in the ride up the one floor is short. Exiting Teri takes the lead walking as quickly and casually as she can. Nodding to the one cerberus troop that passes them as they get to the door to the labs.

"You've got two in the room, can't tell if they're guards or not, thermal doesn't show." Kari comes across her coms.

"Step two." Teri mutters to herself as she swipes her badge at the door scanner. It beeps and flashes green. Opening the door Teri pauses long enough for Lexi to come in before letting it fall shut. The two in the room are both guards, one at a desk, the other by the door.

She flashes her badge at him. "Don't mind me, just coming to try my luck at the gear." She nods to her omnitool, the only gear in the room, the other tables are empty. "Heard that there have been problems cracking the codes."

"And you think you can?" The man says gruffly, disbelieving her skills.

"Worth a shot. Big money in the betting pool I hear."

"Keep it simple." Lexi hisses softly in her ear, warning her.

"Right, have at it, good luck." The guard turns away back to face the door as Teri goes to her omnitool and runs a quick scan over it using the borrowed tool.

"Hmm…" She hums softly to herself, "No locks, no boobey traps...nothing."

"Don't question it." Lexi hisses in her ear.

"Would you quit that." Teri murmurs back.

"Um, you two, that guard is looking you way, and his hand is going to his hip. I'd hazard to guess he's got a pistol. Want me to take him out?"

"No!" both Lexi and Teri hiss at the same time.

"Give me a sec to try diplomacy." Teri quickly swaps tools, settling hers in place and dropping the borrowed one as a distraction for the swap. She smiles at the guard who's resting his hand on his pistol. "Butterfingers. Good thing these things are tough." She put the tool on the table and turns around straight into his gun leveled at her eyes.

"Oh crap." Lexi says, dropping her cloak she fires her shotgun into the man's gut as Teri ducks to shoot the guard by the desk. Both men go down as alarms ring out across the complex.

Teri quickly sheds the now useless uniform shirt as she checks behind the desk, glad to find her pack tucked next to the chair, the guard must have been going through it. A quick glance shows nothing missing so she slings it on and grabs her paladin from his holster.

"That's mine." She ratchets a new thermal clip in place as she turns back to Lexi. "Kari, what's the sitrep?"

"All targets are alert and hightailing it to your position. reinforcements are coming in from the front. I think they expect you to go out that way." Kari responds, they can hear her sniper rifle going off as she takes down troops. "Your level is clear."

"Find me another exit." Teri says as they exit the room and look down both ways of the hall, "If the front is where they're guarding, get me the back door."

"Got you your exit. Go left, down the stairs, make that first left and you're home free for the garage. Looks like a clear shot out the back. I'll keep them, busy, out front."

The way she pauses on 'busy' has Teri turning to look concerned at Lexi. "Do I want to know what she has in mind?"

"Probly not, let's go." Lexi leads them down the hall to the stairwell, holding the door open for Teri.

Teri ducks through and down the stairs, stopping to open the door below for Lexi. "Armored ladies first." She says with a mock bow.

Lexi rolls her eyes as she steps through the door, shotgun up and ready, scanning the area. She leads down the hallway to their turnoff.

Turning the corner she walks straight into a hale of gunfire, her shields spark sporadically, deflecting and absorbing most of the shots, soon they flicker as they are overloaded. She yelps and ducks back behind the wall.

"Right, Kari!" She calls out over her coms, "Why didn't you warn us we were walking into a platoon?"

"Sorry about that." Kari responds, "I was busy at the front keeping them pinned down."

"Great." Lexi mutters. She cautiously, quickly turns round the corner to fire off a few shots, they go wide and spark off the troopers' shields before they return fire again, forcing her back behind cover.

"Oh screw this." Teri crouches down and draws out one of her turrets, she gives it a toss, bouncing it off the far wall of the hallway they need and hoping she threw it hard enough to land behind the line of troops. Seconds later bullets fly past at high velocity out of the hall, peppering the wall to their right. Screams and hollers punctuate the sounds of the turret going off. "There's your opening." She says to Lexi, giving her a crooked grin as the turret erupts into a small explosion.

Lexi turns the corner again, sprinting and firing her shotgun into the backs of the remaining troops who had taken out the turret. Taken by surprise they go down quickly, offering no resistance.

Teri steps up and follows Lexi down the hall and toward the doors marked 'Garage'. "Home free.." She says softly, turning to watch their back as Lexi opens the door. Stepping out the garage is empty of any guards all hands having been called out to the front. As they step down to the ground of the garage a loud roar sounds off, shaking the very ground they are standing on.

"What the hell was that?!" Teri cries out over her coms.

"Building Buster ammo." Kari replies menacingly, "They're my personal creation."

"Brag later." Lexi interjects, "Are we clear to make a run for it? We've got no useable vehicles here to borrow."

"You're clear. My diversion at the front has got them all otherwise occupied."

"Right then, meet you back at the Normandy." Teri orders, "As soon as we're clear you get back, we'll take the long way home to be sure we don't have any followers." She taps Lexi shoulder and indicates the far door for them to leave via. Lexi nods as Kari responds.

"Roger that. I'll cover your escape and meet you back at the ship."

Lexi draws her shotgun, taking the lead again, Teri falls in behind, her paladin pistol drawn and aimed low as they jog to the exit. Cracking the door opens, Lexi double checks for any contacts before she holds it open and waves Teri through. The two of them make a fast sprint across the open area to the back of the base before ducking into a darkened alley. Setting a nav point on her omnitool for the docks, Teri takes the lead as they navigate the back roads of Omega to get back to the Normandy.


	12. Chapter 12

**Author's Note:**Hey there. New chapter for you guys. Sorry on the delay, busy week.

Enjoy! R&R please!

* * *

Back aboard the Normandy Lexi and Teri clean and store their gear chatting over the success of the mission. Teri spends her time fussing over her omnitool cursing loudly occasionally.

"What's got you in such a fuss?" Lexi asks as she finishes cleaning her shotgun and setting it reverently on her bench.

"It's all the hacks cerberus tried. Each one left behind code trails and gaps and tangles in the binary compounds. Not to mention all the damage they did to the hardware trying to get in."

"I have no idea what you just said." Lexi looks over at Teri grinning broadly. "I'm guessing they just left a fucked up tangled mess behind.

Teri rolls her eyes, "You would be correct. In an entirely, drastically, simplistic point of view." Teri grumbles to herself as she returns to her task. Following Lexi as she walks to the lift.

"Long as I'm right I don't care how simplistic." Lexi grins as they board the lift up to the crew deck.

"You aren't right often," Teri says as they exit the lift, "But I'll give it to ya this time."

"Who's right about what?" Kari says, looking up from a data pad she's got at a table, her coffee in hand.

"I am about her tech." Lexi crows as she goes to make tea.

"Just this once." Teri yells after her, pulling a soda from the fridge for herself. "And only in a very basic way." She goes over to Kari's table and takes a seat.

"Semantics." Lexi answers, coming to sit down, a steaming cup of tea in her hand. "I was right, that counts."

"You're keeping count?" Kari asks, setting her datapad aside.

"She's rarely ever right."Teri answers only to receive a swift, sharp kick from Lexi. "Ow, hey!"

"Rarely ever right." Lexi grumbles. "I have been right on more than a few occasions I'll have you know."

"Sure thing sweets." Teri teases as she downs the last of her soda.

"Anybody heard anything on our next mission?" Kari says, deflecting the conversation away from the teasing.

"Not yet," Teri says,. We only just got back. Figured you'd know before us."

"The only word I've heard is that we're leaving Omega, Shepard's got new orders, but she hasn't shared with the crew yet. Rumor has it that the orders are about Tuchanka."

"Tuchanka eh?" Teri muses, "That could be fun. Playing with krogans is always an experience."

"I'd rather avoid any meetings with the krogan, going by your track record with making friends Teri."

"Oy!" It's Teri's turn to kick Lexi under the table, unfortunately she missed and hit Kari instead.

"Hey, watch it!" Kari exclaims. "You two better stop trying to kick each other, I don't want in the middle of it."

"Aw take it easy Kari," Lexi moans, "It's just good teasing."

"Teasing right. Haven't you two anything better to do than tease each other all the time?"

"What and be all stoic all the time like you?" Lexi says jokingly.

Kari doesn't take it as a joke and huffs, "I am not _stoic_ all the time." She gets up and takes her cup to the sink. "I'll be in the gym. Come find me when we get our orders." She walks past them without another word, her face a dark mask.

Teri kicks Lexi for sure this time, "Good going. Now one of us has to go after her."

"You can, I'm staying here to finish my tea. Not my fault she can't take a joke."

Teri sighs as she gets up, "Alright, I'll go get her. You so owe me for this one." Teri leaves and takes the lift up to the nest and into the gym.

Up in the gym, Kari strips off her uniform blouse and begins to pummel the punching bag set up in the corner. She works out her frustrations on the bag. Well aware that she has been rather standoffish around the other two, all business and not opening up much. But that's not her fault. the last thing she plans on doing is getting close to more squadmates. That worked out so well for her last time.

Each punch and kick works out a little more of her anger, and her self doubt over Lexi's comment.

"Kari?" Teri says, coming into the gym she sees Kari hard at work and decides to approach with caution. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." she replies gruffly as she continues her assault on the bag.

"Right, sure." Teri takes a seat on the nearby bench. setting out a bottle of water and a towel for Kari, prepared for when she finishes. "Wanna talk about it?"

"I don't do talking. And it's nothing to talk about." A few sharp punches belay her lie, but Teri lets it slide.

"You know she was just teasing, right? She didn't mean it seriously."

Kari sighs and stops, holding the bag steady. "You're not gonna leave it alone will you?"

"Nope." Teri says, overly cheerful. "I'm stubborn that way. No way am I going into a fight without my squad on good terms."

Kari turns around, grabbing the bottle she downs it in one go before toweling off. "Your squad eh? Who died and made you leader of us?"

"Nobody." Teri says, shrugging off Kari's comment. "Just a figure of speech. we're all equal here."

"Sure we are." Kari says dismissively as she grabs her shirt, she turns to the lift and leaves.

'Well, that worked grandly." Teri chunters to herself before going to the lift and waiting to board, deciding to kill time in engineering until they get their orders.

Lexi wills away her time in the Observation deck, her favorite spot on the ship. She watches the stars out the view window as they flash by. She sits for a while sipping at her tea, lost in thought. After her tea is gone she quickly gets bored. She gets up, pacing the room for a while before sitting down again. Waiting for word on their next mission has her on edge. She gives up trying to wait patiently in observation and decides her skills could use sharpening on her shotgun and smg.

Going to the lift, her and Kari nearly collide with each other, both preoccupied with their thoughts. "Oh, sorry. Didn't mean to." Lexi says as Kari nearly repeats her word for word. "Sorry. My bad. You alright?"

'I'm fine." Kari says gruffly. still on edge.

Lexi catches her elbow as she turns to leave, "Hey, I'm sorry for what I said. I was just teasing you, didn't really mean it."

Kari sighs softly, "It's fine, really. If you'll excuse me, I need to get to the showers."

"Oh, yeah, sure." Lexi says caught off guard. On her way down to the cargo hold EDI interrupts her thoughts.

"Marine Novak, report to the CIC for orders from the commander."

"Orders? Aren't Teri and Kari coming too?"

"I cannot disclose specifics of the mission. The commander requests you to report to the CIC as soon as possible."

"Ok, inform the commander I'm on my way." Lexi hits the stop control on the lift, reversing its direction back up to the CIC.

Once there Shepard directs Lexi to the war room, and to the conference table. She pulls up a terrain map of Tuchanka. "Novak, I have a mission for you that needs an infiltration expert. It is a solo mission so I need to be sure you can do it. I'll have marines Richards and Andrews on standby."

"I can do it ma'am." Lexi responds, glad to have something to do, she worries a bit about going solo, but she's done it before and had no problems.

"Good. There is a Cerberus facility set up here in this ravine." She draws up the map, zooming it in on a small outpost facility. "I need to know why they are here and what they're up to. I'm trusting you to get me that information."

"I can do that ma'am. No problem. In and out. It's what I do best."

"Good, suit up. You're wheels down in ten." Shepard dismisses her.

Lexi snaps a sharp salute, "Aye aye ma'am." she turns an about face and quickly strides from the room, not quite double timing it down to the cargo hold for her gear.

It doesn't take her long to suit up, she double checks her cloak, glad to see it's at full charge, she straps her shotgun and smg to her hip. As a last thought she grabs the standard issue Viper sniper rifle from her bench, collapsing and strapping it to her pack, just in case.

She joins Cortez and the shuttle and grins at him, nodding. "All set. let's go."

"Right then. All aboard." he jokes boarding the shuttle and settling into the pilot's seat. Lexi sits down and straps in, feeling a sense of unease, she shakes it off as nerves and prepares for the mission ahead.


	13. Chapter 13

**Author's Note**: Hello, another fun chapter for you guys.

R&R please!

* * *

Once ground side, Lexi takes a look around the plateau Cortez has chosen as the LZ. She is above the ravine, the base a hundred meters below her. There is a small track that leads down the clif face to the rain floor below. She waves at Cortez, signalling him to go as she starts down the path. Midway down the path opens onto a small ledge, a tunnel leading away to her left. A small group of krogans are waiting there, looking less than pleased.

"You there. Human," one of the grumbles at her, "What are you doing here?"

"Working on your Cerberus problem." Lexi steps off the path, warily approaching the krogans. "Commander Shepard sent me, I'm from the Normandy."

"Shepard sent you?" Asks the one who spoke first

"Yeah, Wants me to see what they're up to. Unless you know and would like to tell me?"

"It's why we are here, Urdnot Wrex sent us to investigate. All we know is they switch guards once a day."

"Everyday eh?"

"You are in luck, they are switching now, so you have until tomorrow to do whatever it is you plan on."

"Any chance of backup?" She asks, not expecting much.

The krogans all laugh their deep rumbling laugh. "Puny human. Do it on your own, it's suicide to go in."

"Not for me." Lexi says confidently. "Keep an eye out for my friends, they may come this way if things don't go as planned."

"We will keep watch." The lead krogan says as he nods back out toward the path, "Go on then, complete your mission."

Lexi nods and turns around, leaving the tunnel she looks cautiously over the ledge, seeing the base only about fifty meters below she can make out sentries on the catwalks and walls of the base, some posted on the roof of the main building as well. She hits her cloak and quickly and quietly heads down the remainder of the path, keeping an eye on the charge of her cloak. The bottom of the track deposits her near the rear entrance of the base, the large doors are open as the sun begins to set, bringing the cover of night to help her too.

Stepping carefully through the gate she comes face to face with a trooper. She barely suppresses a gasp, holding absolutely still as he turns and continues walking away. She bites back a sigh of relief and walks quietly in the growing shadows, avoiding as many guards as she can, working her way deeper into the facility, hoping the information she seeks is located in the main building and computer. She laments not having Teri along, she would be able to make getting the info from the computer a lot easier.

Walking through the base she sees a lot of guards and soldiers but little else, that alone tells her this must be a personnel base for their troops. Barracks and all. They must be preparing for an offense. But on what? There's nothing around here.

So preoccupied in thoughts she trips on a jutting crack in the ground and goes sprawling. Landing hard she puts her hands out to catch herself. Her left hand buckles under her, she sees her cloak flicker. Quickly she rolls to the side, into the shadows across the path. Just in time as a trooper comes around the corner, his gun raised in caution as he searches the area. When she sees her cloak reengage she draws her knife and quickly steps behind him, pulling his head back, her hand over his mouth as she cuts his throat in one swift motion. She drags his body over into the shadows and pushes him up against the wall, well hidden.

She makes her way deeper into the base, keeping a sharper eye out as she looks for the main building. She comes across one and smiles when she sees HQ written above the doors. She whistles softly in relief and makes her way across the yard, her shields and cloak flicker again and she silently curses, hoping no one was around to notice. Stepping into the building she is glad that the door is wide open, she must've just missed someone coming or going as the door swishes shut behind her.

Once inside she makes her way to the closest terminal and draws up her omnitool, she focuses on hacking the computer as quickly as she can without setting off alarms. Lamenting having to shut off her cloak. finishing the hack, the hair on the back of her neck stands up as she hears the faint static crackle of a cloak turning off. She drops to a crouch seconds before a blade slices through the air where her head was a moment ago, it sparks off the armor and shields of her shoulder as she rolls out of the way.

She comes up looking into the face of a phantom, crouched and ready to strike again. The phantom's cloak shimmers into place and Lexi immediately strafes the area with her shotgun, knowing all secrecy is blown now.

The shots hiss and spark off the phantom's shields lighting her up, but too late as the phantom dances in close, slashing across Lexi's arm, cutting deep from wrist to elbow. She cries out, dropping the shotgun as the phantom's shields and cloak crackle and die. Swearing profusely as she dances back out of range of the smg Lexi draws with her left hand. Unbalanced in one hand and unaccustomed to using her left, her shots are wild, hitting everywhere but the phantom. They do force her to be on the constant move as Lexi backs up to get a wall at her back, cradling her arm against her chest in an effort to slow the bleeding until she can take down this phantom.

In a surprise attack the phantom cartwheels and dives forward, rolling through the shots as she moves in close. Lexi unloads her smg into her, taking her down. But too late as the phantom's last move is to leap into a drive, sword straight out. It stabs through Lexi's shoulder. Too slow a projectile for her shields to compensate for it, and viciously sharp, it pierces right through her armor, going all the way through her back as well. Lexi kicks the dead phantom away causing the sword to jerk in her shoulder as the phantom's hand lets go of it. She can't bite back her cry of pain. She prays that the room she is in is empty and no one in the area heard her. Her knees give way as she staggers back. Her left shoulder hits the wall she was looking for earlier and she skids down, her right arm falling numbly into her lap as her legs sprawl out in front of her.

She draws her omnitool up on her left hand and gives it a voice command to send an SOS signal back to the Normandy. She groans in pain as she tries to shift her position to get as much pressure off her shoulder and the sword as she can. She knows she can't draw the sword out, even if she somehow could get it, knowing she'd bleed out in seconds if she did.

"What have we here?" She hears a male voice, turning her head from looking at her shoulder she sees a trooper is standing over her, his pistol aimed steady. He ships it when he sees the state she's in, over confident she can't get to him. He laughs at her, a hollow gloating laugh.

She still has her smg in her left hand and he's standing close. He takes the sword in his hand and twists it, she screams in pain as he starts to draw it out. Gritting her teeth she uses all her strength to lift her left hand, firing her smg into his leg and up to his gut and chest. The force of the shots dances him back as he lets go of the sword. He staggers and falls dead to the ground. She gasps back more cries from the pain in her shoulder. The small amount he'd moved the sword lets out a slow bleed, blood running down her chest and arm to pool in her lap and around her slowly. She fights to stay conscious but quickly loses the battle. Slipping into darkness she prays that her squad arrives soon.


	14. Chapter 14

**Authjor's Note:** Insomniatic night equals early chapter. You guys enjoy!

R&R please!

* * *

Kari and Teri received their orders from Shepard that they are to be back up for Lexi should things go awry, and that it would be their job to provide extraction once her mission was complete. They spend most of the evening in the cargo hold, armor sitting waiting. Teri is working on her omnitool, further cleaning and reorganizing the mess that Cerberus left in it while also applying new upgrades. Kari spends her time adjusting the scope and parameters of her sniper, testing it out on the practice holorange the Normandy has set up.

"Marines Richards and Andrews." Shepard says over the coms, "EDI has picked up an automated SOS from Novak. I need your butts in gear and dirtside yesterday."

"Aye aye commander." They both respond automatically.

"You know," Teri says as she begins to quickly pull on her armor, "I'd hoped that the just in case part would've stayed just in case. SOS is never good."

"Why SOS though? Surely if she was in danger she'd send a message and not the auto SOS?"

"Guess things got too hot too quick. Who knows. But we gotta move." Teri ships her rifle to her back, her pistol to her thigh as she double checks her omnitool on her way to the shuttle, Kari not far behind her, shipping her own rifle to her pack as she loads it full of medical supplies and grabs her sniper, shiping it next to her rifle.

Stepping into the shuttle Kari nods to Cortez, her and Teri sitting and strapping in. "Commander wants us there yesterday Cortez."

"Can do." he says as they drop out of the ship. He pulls out all the stops, taking them down at break neck speeds and sharp turns. Teri hardly even notices, working at her omnitool again.

"What are you doing now?" Kari asks, gripping the seat tight against the turbulent ride.

"Hoping that I can link her tool to mine, maybe find a signal we can track back to her. Something is wrong though, the signal I'm getting is sporadic. Keeps dropping in and out of tune."

"Why would it be doing that?"

"I don't know, but I don't like it. I can only get a general area, it won't stay connected long enough to pinpoint an exact location."

"Let's hope general is enough, we're here." They step out of the shuttle onto the moonlit plateau, looking down at the facility below.

"How general is your general area?" Kari asks skeptically seeing the multitude of buildings in the small facility.

"Got it narrowed down to that building in the back right hand corner. That's as close as I can get it. She's in there somewhere."

Kari pulls out her sniper, taking a prone position she looks over the edge of the cliff and down at the base. "I've got five targets on rooftop patrol, maybe three or four on the ground. There doesn't appear to be any alarm in them, they seem casual."

"Maybe we got lucky and they don't know about Lexi. Can you take out the rooftops quietly? we don't have a cloak to get down this track without being spotted."

"Can I?" Kari scoffs, "Of course I can. Wait one." Systematically she takes out each rooftop guard, her sniper making it's subdued snap as each shot fires. It only takes five shots.

Teri is impressed, "Very nice. Now, let's go. I don't like leaving her any longer than necessary."

"Then let's go before they spot their missing friends." Kari says, quickly standing and shipping her rifle. Teri leads the way down the path, quickly and carefully, aware of the narrow space and the steep slope.

Halfway down they come across the small tunnel leading off to their left into the cliffside.

A krogan comes out of the tunnel to meet them on the path. "You must be the puny human's backup."

"So what if we are?" Teri says defensively, never having gotten along with krogan well. "Do you know anything about that facility, about our friend Lexi?"

"Not that I would tell you." He responds chuckling.

Teri growls and, without thinking, hauls her head back, headbutting the krogan solidly on his crest, she swears as she feels the grating of the newly healed bones in her nose. She prays it's not broken again and looks to the krogan who has staggered back, looking shocked. "Now will you tell me what you know?" She says, resisting the urge to rub at her nose.

The krogan glares at her but responds, "You've got guts. She went down shortly before sunset. We saw her take out one guard before disappearing into the far building. That was an hour ago and there hasn't been any activity since. Their guard will switch come morning."

"Right, thank you." Teri says, this time she does rub at her nose, feeling it sore and sensitive but not broken.

Kari leads them back out and down the rest of the slope. "Why'd you go and headbutt him?"

"He needed to be taught respect."

"By headbutting?"

"It's a sign of dominance." Teri says as they reach the bottom, "Can we move now? We've got a lot of ground to cover as quickly and silently as possible."

"Alright." Kari says, ducking low and taking the lead, as she passes Teri hears her mutter, "Still can't believe you headbutted a krogan."

"Would you lay off it." She growls, falling in behind Kari, drawing her pistol.

Standing at the doorway into the base Kari waves Teri to hold back. A few seconds later she grabs the guard that steps by, efficiently cutting his throat and dumping him outside the base. Teri steps past him and follows Kari inside the base. Keeping to the shadows, they quickly make their way through the base. They come across two more guards, Teri's silenced pistol taking them out. They hide the bodies in the shadows as they move on, further into the base.

As they come to the building Kari takes up a defensive position as Teri sets to work on the door that is shut and locked.

"How's it looking Kari?"

"Clear so far. How much longer?"

"Just a minute.." Teri trails off as she gets the door open and sees Lexi on the far side of the room. "Oh shit."

"Oh shit is never good." Kari says, her back still to the door.

"Just shut up and get in here." Teri snaps at her, already at Lexi's side and carefully removing her armor. She applies a thick seal of medigel to the wound in Lexi's arm and another around the sword blade.

As Kari steps inside she repeats Teri's swear when she catches sight of Lexi. She quickly steps up, pushing Teri out of the way she looks over Lexi. "We need to get the sword out of her."

Teri gives her a dark look, muttering under her breath, "No shit." quiet enough Kari doesn't hear. She kneels to Lexi's right bracing one hand against her shoulder, the other holding the blade as close to the wound as she can get.

"Right, as soon as you pull it free I'm going to pack the wound with medigel. That should hold her up well until we get her back to the ship."

"Ready?" Teri asks, clenching her teeth tight, biting back the worry that wants to come to her forethoughts.

"Ready." Kari responds.

"Sorry Lexi, this is gonna hurt." Teri grips the sword tight and draws it out as fast and steady as she can. Once it's free Kari immediately sets to work, packing the wound and sealing it. Teri sits down beside Lexi as she watches Kari patch her up. She looks down at the sword in her hand, seeing the light shimmer off the blade as her hand shakes ever so slightly.


End file.
